Cinema BackStory: The Casting Call

The date was December 10, 1938 and a massive two-year search was underway for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in the best selling novel turned film Gone with the Wind. The setting was Hollywood’s 40 Acres backlot where a party was taking place to watch the filming of the burning of Atlanta. 

The burning of Atlanta on the 40 Acres lot

Everyone from studio bigwigs and celebrities to secretaries and firemen watched the sets from King Kong go up in flames while dining on spaghetti, baked potatoes and turkey-a-la-king. Partygoer and talent agent Myron Selznick (and brother of the film’s producer David O.) showed up late – and quite inebriated – for the evening’s festivities with his client, celebrated British actor Laurence Olivier. 

Olivier and Leigh

On the arm of the very married Shakespearean actor was his lover, the dark haired green-eyed beauty Vivien Leigh who was also a Selznick client and dying to play the part of Scarlett. Ever the opportunist and dressed to kill in a mink coat and full stage makeup, David Selznick spots Leigh amid the burning embers as brother Myron remarks, “Hey genius, here’s your Scarlett O’Hara.” Two screen tests and three weeks later, Leigh beats out thirty-two actresses along with thousands of unknowns for the coveted role and the rest was cinematic history.

One of the main contenders was Paulette Goddard who possibly lost the part as Selznick wanted to avoid a scandal revolving around her questionable marital status with Charlie Chaplin. (The situation was ripe with irony as Leigh and Olivier -- both married to other people --  were living together at the time as well). Lana Turner, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Lucille Ball and Katherine Hepburn were also considered.

Paulette Goddard

David Selznick on the set of GWTW 

Many of our favorite films could have taken a different turn due to casting choices. Both Candice Bergen and Robert Redford screen tested for the roles of Elaine Robinson and Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate and were turned down. Redford was told by director Mike Nichols that "he could never play a loser in a million years." The iconic "loser" role launched the career of Dustin Hoffman.

America's quintessential screen virgin Doris Day was considered for the predatory Mrs. Robinson  who remarked, "I cannot see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age that I'd seduced." Fortunately Anne Bancroft could and received an Academy Award for her effort not to mention a great set of highlights.

The part of Thomas Crown was originally written for Sean Connery by screenwriter Alan Trustman who worried Steve McQueen would not effectively be able to deliver the dialogue. The part was later rewritten with "The King of Cool" in mind who said it was one of his all-time favorite roles.

Hugh Grant was said to be "kicking himself" over the Academy Award winning role in The King's Speech -- a career move that is certainly a head scratcher.

Hugh Grant

Academy Award winning actor Colin Firth

Jeff Bridges was up for the part of Oliver in Love Story (he was also up for Big, Officer and a Gentleman, Taxi Driver, Shawshank Redemption and Indiana Jones) which solidified Ryan O'Neal's place in film. (And speaking of Officer and A Gentleman, John Denver turned down the lead in Officer, imagine him alongside Debra Winger).

a very young Jeff Bridges

Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. Fresh off of Peyton Place,
co-star Barbara Parkins  auditioned for the role  of Jenny

I love a good backstory and it's always interesting to think what might have been. Tupac turned down Bubba in Forrest Gump?  Christopher Walken as Jesus Christ in The Temptation of Christ? (I can see Saturday Night Live now). And OJ as the lead in The Terminator? Producers feared the former NFL great turned felon would not be taken seriously as a killer  -- and  I promise I did not make that up:).

Photo Credits: Paramount, MGM, Weinstein Company, Embassy Pictures, MGM

On the Block: The Debbie Reynolds Auction

One of the world's largest collection of the most iconic costumes in Hollywood film history goes on the block June 18th. Collected over half a century by actress (and icon herself) Debbie Reynolds, dealer Profiles in History will auction some 3500 sketches, 20,000 original photographs and scores of props, costume sketches and movie posters.

Some of the highlights include Scarlett's green velvet and bird feather "drapery" hat from Gone With the Wind, Marilyn's infamous subway grate white dress from The Seven Year Itch and Elizabeth Taylor's gilt headdress from Cleopatra. Claudette Colbert's gold lame gown from the 1934 version of Cleopatra. The Little Tramp's bowler hat and Judy Garland's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz along with Audrey Hepburn's black and white costume from My Fair Lady are must haves. Costumes from Travilla, Edith Head and Travis Banton will be featured as well.

The star of Singin in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown began her collection in 1970 when MGM studio was purchased and consolidated and the studios goodies were sold to an auctioneer.  She sifted through 300,000 costumes, scripts, furniture and props, curating a wonderful array of memorabilia fit for a museum. Reynolds spent decades trying to find the proper home but to no avail.

It is sad to think this incredible collection of Hollywood history won't make it to a museum and hopefully private collectors will give it a good home.

Monroe's subway dress

Audrey Hepburn's hat  from My Fair Lady

Marilyn Monroe's gown from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Click your heels three times

Scarlett's hat in Gone With the Wind

Elizabeth Taylor's headdress in Cleopatra above and below

Claudette Colbert's gilded creation in 1934's Cleopatra

Elizabeth Taylor's costume in  National Velvet

If you want to own a piece of film history, the auction takes place Saturday, June 18th at the Paley Center for Media, 465 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills at noon. And if you can't be there or Charlton Heston's Ben Hur tunic is not in your budget (it's rumored that Monroe's subway dress will fetch up to two million dollars), the catalogue is a must read and can be purchased here.

Photo Credits: Profiles in History, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM

Designs on Film Events

If you are on the East Coast this week, here are two events that might be of interest:

Tuesday, May 10th
Fairfield Theatre Company
70 Sanford Street
Fairfield, CT
2:00 PM
Lecture and book signing for Designs on Film

Wednesday, May 11th
F. Schumacher and Company
979 Third Avenue
NYC
11:00 AM

I will be joining a panel with Academy, Emmy and Tony award winning production and costume designer Tony Walton, The Good Wife production designer Stephen Hendrickson and set decorator Andrew Baseman to discuss designs on film and television. The panel will be moderated by Linda Sherbert, design editor of Veranda Magazine and a book signing and light lunch will follow. (The photo above is set decorator Hobe Irwin's wallpaper designs for F. Schumacher as seen in 1939's Gone With the Wind).

Hope to see you there!!

Photo Credits: MGM

Tara and Twelve Oaks Revisited

I had the pleasure this past week of speaking at the Margaret Mitchell House on the the making of Gone With the Wind. I have to admit I faced some trepidation as this is a religion for most Atlantans (and all Southerners for that matter). I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and particularly loved meeting the "Windys" who know the book and  film frontwards and backwards. 


While I covered the film and the work of the production designer William Cameron Menzies in my book Designs on Film, my research for the lecture required delving further into the worlds of Tara and Twelve Oaks. And is often the case in most films, the backstory is as interesting as the finished product. 

The designs for Tara were a collaborative effort by production designer William Cameron Menzies and his talented team but the final say so came from producer David O. Selznick. While Margaret Mitchell's book described Tara as a somewhat ordinary "white-washed brick house" in Georgia's Clayton County, Selznick had grander ideas. Many say he was influenced by the Natchez antebellum looks from another popular book and film at the time, So Red the Rose in 1935. To accommodate the producer's vision, Menzies produced some 25 watercolor renderings that were all turned down and 26 was the magic number. (Below is one of the first 25). 

Tara was only a facade and built for $12.059. Trees were fabricated over telephone poles (if you look closely in the title picture, you can see a telephone pole sticking out of the tree!) and blossoms were made by the prop department for the dogwood trees. The structure consisted of three sides, a kitchen and a breezeway with a partial roof. Ah, the magic of Hollywood. 

Selznick Studios, Tara Style

Well appointed interior of Tara

Twelve Oaks was somewhat grander than Tara and Mitchell was none to happy with those designs either. She didn't know where to "laugh or throw up" over the double staircase and compared the plantation house to that of Grand Central Station and the Palace of Potsdam. 

Publicity still on the double staircase

One of the sketches for Twelve Oaks stairway that was not used

Sketch for library at Twelve Oaks....

and actual scene from the film

Tara remained on the studio lot for two more decades and was eventually sold to Desilu Productions. Desi Arnaz had toyed with the idea of refurbishing the facade and turning it into a tourist attraction but sadly it met its demise. The front door was eventually sent to the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta.

According to the rules of the Award, I should:

And now for another piece of business -- Christian of the ultra stylish, ultra Golden Age of Hollywood blog The Silver Screen Modiste (and kudos to one sophisticated blog name I might add) nominated me for Stylish Blogger Award and always appreciate his support and wonderful insights. Christian wrote the book on costume designer Adrian (that makes the second person in my world who did that, Adrian and I must have known each other in past lives) which was published by Monacelli Press. The book covers the incredible work of house of Adrian and the many stars he clothed from Garbo, Harlow and Crawford to Lamarr, Hepburn and Garland. That would be Greta, Jean, Hazel, Hedy, Katherine and Judy to the uninitiated.aYou can read more here. 

According to Christian and the rules of the Award, I should:

1) Thank and link back to the blogger who awarded you with the award.
2) Share 7 Things about yourself.
3) Award recently discovered great bloggers.
4) Contact the bloggers and inform them of the award

So here are seven things about myself:

1.) I LOVE LOVE LOVE movies. (Gee, does it show?) And as I get older, movies are more interesting to me from the thirties to the sixties. Perhaps its the acting, the costumes or the stories from a more simpler time. Moviemaking may not be as evolved as it is now but it's still narrative storytelling at its epic best.

2)  If money were no object (or time and space for that matter) I would move into a movie set. The penthouse of A Perfect Murder or The Fountainhead, the townhouse from Thomas Crown Affair and the beach house from Somethings Gotta Give (I know, its been covered to death) would do nicely. And if cable and air conditioning were available, I could move into the world of Marie Antoinette.

3.) Maybe its me but actors seem to look better in older films. Redford never looked better in The Way We Were, Bogart in Casablanca and Holden in Sabrina. Of course they were younger too.

4). I have over 200 soundtrack songs on my Ipod. My favorites are Chinatown, Out of Africa and Thomas Crown Affair One (Two is pretty good also). And yes, I even downloaded the Sound of Music.

5).  I would love to design a wardrobe of Doris Day inspired sixties costumes. Her frocks for Pillow Talk and The Thrill of It All were wonderful. 

6).  I enjoy a good backstory. The gossip behind the scenes for Casablanca, Cleopatra and Gone with the Wind is fascinating and as good as the movie. Whenever I lecture, those are the stories people want to hear. And who doesn't love some good gossip. I must have been Hedda Hopper in a former life.

7.) If I am flipping the channel and the following movies are on the screen, I stop whatever I am doing and watch - All the President's Men, Gone with the Wind and the Godfather One and Two. GF three just doesn't cut it.

And I am only supposed to list seven, but here is #8:

8). Isn't it interesting how we can remember all the seminal movies of our lives, where we saw them and who we were with? 

And here are four  blogs I nominate for Stylish Blogger Awards. They are fellow writers who I am also proud to call  friends:

One - Emily Evans Eerdmans. Long before we met, I had to have her book Regency Redux on my coffee table. She did one better with her bio/design tome of Madeleine Castaing. You can read Emily's blog here.

Two- The Renaissance designer Joe Ruggiero is literally a cat with nine lives and then some. He has been an editor, television personality, designer, spokesperson, blogger, magazine Editor in Chief,  author, product designer, you name it. Multi talented and writes a wonderful blog on his work and times here. I am a huge fan.

Three - There are many curated blogs out there but the one I go to for direction and the latest and greatest is Stylebeat. Written by former O at Home and House Beautiful editor Marisa Marcantonio (I was first introduced to her by my editor Candace Manroe at Traditional Home), she was a wonderful way of ferreting out just what I am interested in.

Four - Mrs. Blandings. I immediately was drawn to the title of course and she writes a very personal, poignant and  intriguing blog unlike any other. Watching her translate her life in Kansas City to an enjoyable and lovely blog is quite wonderful. She is a cut above and I hope to see her published the the print form one day. I hope a publisher is listening. She also selflessly helped me set up my first blog and we had never even met. 

Photo credits: Selznick International Pictures

Before They Were Films, They Were Sketches

Tom Walsh, President of the Art Directors Guild and I had the pleasure of being interviewed by
Susan Stamberg of NPR's Morning Edition this past week. The show focused on Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction and the NPR website did a wonderful accompanying piece on their website "Long Before Computers, How Movies Made Us Believe."

I love film art and thought you would enjoy a few renderings from the book. Above is production designer John De Cuir Sr.'s barge design for Cleopatra and below is the centerpiece set for Dr. Zhivago, the ice palace. Shot on set in Spain (and in the summer no doubt), production designer John Box literally placed wax on everything inside the dacha while a prop man dutifully followed him with a bucket of cold water and splashed the wax. Hence the look of ice cycles and one of the most memorable sets in Hollywood history.

Production designer Stephen Gooson's designs for the lamasery in Lost Horizons -- built and shot on the Columbia studio ranch. The film's version of Shangri La was built to scale in two months and the designers were strongly influenced by Buddhist buildings and the works of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Production designer William Cameron Menzies designed over 2000 sketches for the storyboards for Gone With the Wind. The watercolor of Tara below is by artist Dorothea Holt Redmond. Tara cost $12,000 to build on the Selznick backlot and telephone poles were wrapped to resemble trees. Sorry to spoil the grandeur of Tara.

Chinatown restaurant scene with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway above and continuity sketch below. The period film was designed by Richard Sylbert.

If you are in the Los Angeles area this week, I will be signing books on Thursday, February 3rd at Barnes and Noble, 1800 Crans Avenue in Manhattan Beach from 11-3 PM and Book Soup on Friday, February 4th at 7:00 PM in West Hollywood. I will also be speaking at the Beverly Hills Women's Club with a book signing to follow on Thursday evening at 6:30. For more information see their website here.
Whew!

Photo Credits: Columbia Pictures, Paramount, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, Art Directors Guild

If These Walls Could Talk: F. Schumacher Goes to the Movies

Easily one of the most recognizable homes of the cinema, Gone with the Wind's Tara needs no introduction. From its imposing white washed brick columns to the period perfect rooms, the O'Hara plantation played a central role in both the novel and film. 

Now you can get your own look of Tara with the F. Schumacher's Hydrangea Drape wallpaper (and forget Scarlett's drapes turned into dress!) Designed by New York interior decorator/set designer (who was also known for his work on Dinner at Eight and Little Women), Schumacher purchased the classic floral and stripe from Erwin's original archives in l986 and it's still available today in their Greenhouse Collection in four colorways of white, blue, willow and fawn.

                       

Schumacher fabrics and wallpapers have also graced the sets for films and television ranging from I Love Lucy (1953) to the Edith Wharton based films Washington Square (1996) and The Age of Innocence (1996). Acclaimed photographer, interior, production and stage and costume designer and style icon (known for his sets of My Fair Lady and Gigi) was a guest designer for the fifth generation company. For those of you who are I Love Lucy fans, their pattern Polka Dot Pony appeared on a child's chair in the Ricardo's Manhattan apartment.         

Michelle Pfeiffer as Countess Olenska in The Age of Innocence

Edwardian Damask in black colorway

For more about F. Schumacher's collections, see their website.


Photo Credits: MGM, F. Schumacher, Columbia Pictures